It’s common knowledge, the rent went crazy again about 3 weeks ago and moved from $28 ZWL to the current $45. As always shops have raced to adjust their prices and make sure they are still charging profitable prices as inflation wipes out their profits.

One such common household item that has seen an adjustment is sugar. The commodity saw a massive 51% increase within the space of a week. The price went from an average $43.65 ZWL on Friday to an astounding $65.20 (the cheapest price) on Monday.

On 14 March when we did our last snap survey we saw the following prices for a $2kg of sugar:

OK Supermarket $43.65
TM/Pick N Pay $43.99
Choppies $44.95
FoodWorld $43.65
Informal Market US $1.60

As of today, the prices are now as follows:

OK Supermarket $65.99
TM/Pick N Pay $66.49
Choppies $65.49
FoodWorld $65.20
Informal Market US $1.60

The official fiction is that shops don’t follow the black market rates and instead use the interbank rate and that their prices are based on changes in operating costs. Well, we can easily disprove this lie right now.

The informal market was selling sugar at $1.60 that is in US dollars. The rate back then was about $27 ZWL per 1 USD. This means the price of sugar in ZWL was:

27*1.6

$43.20 ZWL on the informal market very close to what the supermarkets were charging.

Right now the rate is around $41 for small amounts. This translates to $41*1.60 and for that, you get a price of $65.60! Yes, coincidentally that’s the prices that supermarkets are charging. So yes this latest price increase is thanks to the movements on the black market.